If You Heard These 11 Phrases Growing Up, You’re Definitely Gen X
Gen X had their very own language.
shurkin_son / Shutterstock Ah, Gen X. They were the last generation to live their whole childhood without the use of any internet whatsoever. In fact, I’d go so far as to say they were the last generation to have a “traditional” teenage life.
The era Gen X grew up in was one that had a lot of phrases that were iconic, yet so many have gone extinct in the lexicon of today. Let’s talk about phrases that only Gen X really got to enjoy.
If you heard these 11 phrases growing up, you’re definitely Gen X
1. ‘Sike!’
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There are so many different ways to say that something isn’t real…NOT! (Okay, yeah, that is kinda outdated too, but it still happens from time to time.) Out of all the ways that people would make a joke out of a blatant lie, “Sike!” was the coolest.
It was mostly a kids’ phrase and a teen phrase. No one really knew how to spell it, either.
2. ‘Where’s the beef?’
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I’ve written about this phrase before, but it was really everywhere for a while. This phrase was a major part of a Wendy’s burger commercial featuring a little old lady asking where the competitor’s meat was.
Long story short, it was a major part of the '80s and '90s pop culture slang, and it meant where the stuff of substance was.
3. ‘Grody!’
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The '70s and '80s were eras when California slang reigned supreme, especially when it came to “Valley” accents. It was an era when hearing someone say “totally tubular” or “gag me with a spoon” would actually be possible.
A more common phrase, though? It was “grody,” which meant that something was so disgusting that it made you recoil a bit. This is still used when parents of today have to sort through their kids’ laundry.
4. ‘Reaganomics’
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Gen Xers might have heard slang all over the schoolyard or while biking through town, but let’s face it: they also heard their parents talking. Back in the day, Ronald Reagan was one of the most popular politicians around, as were his economic theories.
Reaganomics was the political buzzword of the time, at least when it came to the economy. There are few phrases that managed to be as popular as that one in the arena of business.
5. ‘Greed is good’
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Perhaps the only '80s economic phrase to be as popular as the term “Reaganomics” was when a certain character by the name of Gordon Gekko from the movie "Wall Street" said, “Greed is good.”
In a weird way, this really highlighted how hungry corporations had become by the late '80s. It also became a strangely popular catchphrase among fans of Wall Street culture, which was, at the time, booming.
6. ‘I’m okay, you’re okay’
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Contrary to popular belief, Millennials didn’t invent self-help: baby boomers did. And one of the most popular books throughout the '70s and '80s was Dr. Thomas Harris's "I’m OK, You’re OK." It was first published in the late '60s, but stayed a major relationship-saving reading staple for about two decades.
If you had parents who had a rough spot, chances are high that you’ve heard this phrase at home.
7. ‘What’s your damage?’
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This is one of those phrases that really should have come back by now, but randomly never caught on again. Not to be confused with “What’s the damage?” as an ask for a bill, this phrase was a way to ask people what’s going on with them.
For example, if someone is acting all sour on you, you might say, “Hey, what’s your damage? I didn’t do anything to deserve this!”
8. ‘That’s outrageous!’
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Some of the phrases that caught on were only popular because of the shows that were playing at the time—and this is one of them. If you’re an '80s baby or child of the late '70s, you probably remember Jem and the Holograms.
So many girls just loved Jem and the Holograms and wanted to be like them. They were truly, truly outrageous. The slang term caught on in schools, right alongside more common ones like “radical” and “wicked.”
9. ‘Bogus’
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Though we still hear people use the phrase “bogus” when it comes to something false today, Gen Xers may remember hearing this for almost anything that was bad. If you were having a bogus day, you probably wanted to cry in the parking lot of your workplace.
Of course, you weren’t the only one who probably had a bogus adventure during this era. Bill and Ted did, too.
10. ‘I think I’m gonna ralph’
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Parents who heard this phrase at home often started to run to the kitchen to grab a bucket or a trash can. Wanna know why?
In 2025, “Ralph” is just a guy’s name. In the 1980s, “ralph” wasn’t just a name. It was a euphemism for vomiting.
11. ‘I’m a latchkey kid’
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During the '80s, parents weren’t as crazy about constant supervision as they are now. Many households had two working parents, or just a mom who wanted to have a break from parenting.
Latchkey kids often had to come home to an empty house after school, often using a house key to unlock the latch themselves. Hence the phrase “latchkey kid.” It was a slightly stigmatized term that suggested kids may have been mildly neglected.
In reality? Most latchkey kids were healthy, independent, and given plenty of personal space to grow. Maybe we should bring that back?
Ossiana Tepfenhart is a writer whose work has been featured in Yahoo, BRIDES, Your Daily Dish, Newtheory Magazine, and others.
